MS-06EF Zaku Magellan
The MS-06EF Zaku Magellan is one of several variants of the MS-06 Zaku II line of Mobile Suit. Originally a standard C-Type Zaku II, the MS-06EF was captured by the crew of the Wounded Hound where it underwent severe modification. It would later undergo retrofitting at Jaburo following the advent of Beam Weaponry and the deployment of the Earth Federations RGM-79 GM. It was piloted primarily by Kyle Archer through out the events of the One Year War. Technology & Combat Characteristics As a C-Type Zaku II, its armaments were standard, coming equipped with a 120mm drum-fed machine gun and the Heat Hawk, the signature melee weapon of the Zaku line. Commandeered by the crew of the EFSF ship Wounded Hound who had recently been stranded away from the fleets in Zeon territory, the suit underwent massive modifications to its architecture, including a new power plant scavenged from the Wounded Hound's sister ship, the Gloucester, and a powerful backpack-booster system that would allow the Zaku Magellan unmatched propulsion for much of its lifetime. Aside from its original armaments, the Zaku Magellan was kept supplied largely through the use of scavenging and capturing equipment from defeated Zeon pilots and assorted battlefields with opperable, if damaged, parts. Returning to Earth Federation Forces at Jaburo shortly before the battle of Odessa, the Zaku Magellan would be upgraded by EFF engineers with systems and equipment comparable to the newly launched RGM-79 GMs. 60mm Vulcans were setup in the head and compartments of the chest, while its backpack was equipped with the requisite equipment in order to store and properly charge the THI BSjG01 Beam Saber, which itself had been modified for the Zaku Magellan in order to account for its higher than average power output. It would first utilize the standard BR-M-79C-1 Beam Spray Gun like other GM units before being moved up to the BR-M79L-3 Sniper Beam Rifle to better fit its pilot. In the final weeks of the war with Zeon, the BLASH HM105-K3 Beam Cannon was developed in order to make use of the Zaku Magellan's full power where it saw use at Solomon and A Baoa Qu. Armaments 60mm Gatling "Vulcans" Cannons :The Vulcan guns were 60mm Gatling Guns stored on the crest of the Zaku Magellan's head, just above its monoeye camera, as well as within compartments in the upper area of its chest. The Vulcans shared the immense fire rate of those equipped to the GM units and were used in a much similiar capacity.GM Armaments The chest mounted cannons were often used as a surprise attack, given their non-existence in similiar Zeon units, though their fixed position also made them less viable outside of direct confrontation where-as the head mounted cannons could aim just about anywhere that the Zaku Magellan's head could look at. While the fire rate of the Vulcans was great, its ability to penetrate enemy armour rapidly declined outside of short range, leading to difficulties against stronger mobile suits. Nonetheless it remained a valuable weapon for the Zaku Magellan as a way to conserve the ammunition of its primary weapons. ZMP-50D 120mm Machine Gun :The standard weapon of the Zaku-type mobile suits. Using a 100-round drum fed magazine, it is a shell firing weapon that requires no energy in order to make use of it, though its usefulness against heavily armoured targets is almost nil, to the point that the Luna Titanium-armoured Gundam was near impossible to damage with the weapon. Regardless, it was a mainstay of the Zeon forces and perhaps the signature weapon of the Zaku II.Zaku II Armaments The Zaku Magellan utilized one such machine gun for much of its early life before adopting a beam-based approach to armaments. BR-M-79C-1 Beam Spray Gun :Amounting to a smaller and weaker version of the BOWA-XBR-M-79-07G Beam Rifle, mounted on the RX-78-2 Gundam,Gundam Armaments the Beam Spray Gun was one of the more prominent weapons used by the GM. It utilized a smaller focusing coil than the beam rifle, leading to a less powerful and more scattered shot that created a shotgun blast-like effect. This made the Beam Spray Gun less useful at longer ranges, but it remained devastating up close, being able to rip through the body of a Rick Dom, one of the most heavily armoured mobile suits of the One Year War. It was used by the Zaku Magellan for a relatively short period before being discarded in favour of longer range weapons. BR-M79L-3 Sniper Beam Rifle (R-4 Type Beam Rifle) :A specialized beam rifle, exclusively for the purpose of sniping targets at extreme ranges, it was a standard weapon of the RGM-79SP GM Sniper II and fielded to custom units such as the Zaku Magellan. It featured a high-powered scope allowing the pilot to hit distant targets with extreme accuracy. The energy required to fire the rifle is too much for the generator of the standard GM to handle, requiring the aid of external power supplies and cooling systems. The Zaku Magellan's reactor is capable of harnessing the power of the sniper beam rifle with energy to spare making it an excellent choice of weapon for the custom mobile suit. BLASH HM105-K3 Beam Cannon :Though the Zaku Magellan boasts a far more powerful reactor than contained in other mobile suits, granting it much larger power output for its various functions, it had no way to reliably make use of it outside of its booster system which would kill its pilot at the highest level of momentum possible. The HM105-K3 Beam Cannon, developed at the tail end of the One Year War, was built expressly for use by the Zaku Magellan. A powerful Beam Sniper Rifle, with high-powered long range scope and variable beam output allowed it to fire shots capable of punching holes in armour, or entirely erasing Gelgoog's from the battlefield. The power draw for the weapon was extremely large, and could only generate around 30 shots before its cells would burn out and need replacing. Heat Hawk Type3 :A metallic axe, typically stored on the rear waist armour of Zaku units, that is capable of generating a superheated blade in order to melt through the armour of whatever it cuts.Zaku I Armaments The Type3 is an earlier type of this weapon design, less effective than the Type5 fielded by the F-Type Zaku II.F-Type Zaku II Armaments It was utilized often as the primary weapon of the Zaku Magellan during sorties in space, lacking ammunition for its ranged weaponry or areas to effectively resuppy. Melee combat was the preferred alternative, though the Type3 made for an excellent throwing tool in its lifetime. It would eventually be replaced by a set of beam sabers more typical of Federation deployed forces. High Output THI BSjG01 Beam Saber :With the Gundam being the first to wield a beam saber, and the GM being the second, the Zaku Magellan holds itself in the third spot for this particular weapon. Beam sabers are large tube-like hilts that make use of Minovsky particles held in place by an I-Field to form a cutting edge that can break through almost any kind of material. These particles are stored by E-cap in the hilt of the saber which can be recharged by the mobile suits reactor when stored in the backpack. They utilize their own power source, allowing the wielder to throw or otherwise discard the weapons at anytime. The beam sabers given to the Zaku Magellan were modified for a larger cutting power, and when recharged for the first time by its altered reactor, began sporting a pair of highly dense blue blades compared to the usual pink/purple of other mobile suits. Special Equipment & Features Magellan Backpack/Booster System :The Zaku Magellan is equipped with a large backpack system, making it distinct from any other Zaku-type mobile suit of the One Year War era. This backpack's primary equipment are a pair of very powerful thrusters that grant the Zaku Magellan extreme levels of acceleration. In addition to the thrusters, the backpack is also equipped with hardpoint nodes, a feature common to Earth Federation mobile suits, enabling the suit to carry an assortment of weaponry so long as they could fit the points and didn't stress out the machine's weight limits. During the Zaku Magellan's retrofit at Jaburo, the backpack was upgraded with beam saber sockets. Notes *The Zaku Magellan of course takes its name from the summation of its combined architecture, primarily a Zaku II unit, utilizing the reactor of a salvaged Magellan-class battleship. Gallery File:ZMP-50D.jpg| ZMP-50D 120mm Machine Gun File:BR-M-79C-1.jpg| BR-M-79C-1 Beam Spray Gun File:R-4.png| BR-M79L-3 Sniper Beam Rifle (R-4 Type Beam Rifle) File:HM105-K3.jpg| BLASH HM105-K3 Beam Cannon File:HawkType3.jpg| Heat Hawk Type3 File:GMSaber.jpg| THI BSjG01 Beam Saber File:Mbf-m1-flightunit.jpg| Magellan Booster System References